A new national factsheet on violence against children (VAC) has sent a chilling reminder of how unsafe childhood remains across Pakistan. Covering the first six months of 2025, the document doesn’t just present numbers — it exposes a system that repeatedly fails to see, protect and deliver justice for its youngest citizens.
According to the factsheet, “5097 cases of violence against children were reported every day in [the] past 6 months.” Even allowing for statistical or reporting limitations, the message is stark: violence against children is not an exception in Pakistan. It is a daily reality.
Behind every case file is a child whose trust has been shattered — a girl afraid to walk to school, a boy trafficked across a border, a child silenced by shame and threats. The report forces the country to confront how routine these horrors have become.
A national crisis with an incomplete map
The factsheet is based on data obtained through Right to Information (RTI) requests to police departments in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad. It documents nine major forms of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, child pornography, murder or homicide, kidnapping, child marriage, child labour, child beggary and trafficking.
Yet even this alarming picture is incomplete. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not provide data, leaving a major gap in the national assessment. This absence is not just a technical flaw; it symbolises a broader failure to treat violence against children as a priority that must be mapped, measured and tackled with urgency.
The report warns that the cases captured are only those officially registered with the police. In a country where stigma, fear of retaliation, and distrust of authorities run deep — especially in rural and marginalised communities — the real scale of abuse is likely far higher.
Provinces tell different stories, with the same painful theme
Punjab, the country’s largest province, again records the highest number of child-related crimes. This is partly due to its size and stronger reporting systems, but it also reflects the sheer volume of abuse.
Sindh shows particularly high numbers of sexual abuse, kidnapping and child labour, exposing entrenched criminal networks and the vulnerability of children in urban and peri-urban slums.
On paper, Balochistan’s numbers look smaller. In reality, the province may be one of the most dangerous places for children, with underreporting driven by weak policing, vast distances, conservative social norms and fear of speaking out.
Islamabad presents a more urban profile: greater reporting of child pornography, sexual violence and kidnapping, but fewer cases of child labour or beggary. These trends suggest that where systems exist to record certain crimes, more of them appear — not necessarily because other forms of violence are absent, but because they remain hidden.
A justice system that stops halfway
One of the most disturbing aspects of the factsheet is its examination of what happens after a case is registered.
Many cases stall at the investigation stage for months. Police forces often lack specialised child protection units, forensic tools and trained personnel. In sensitive cases like sexual abuse and trafficking, local influence, social pressure and fear can quietly derail the process.
Even when an FIR is registered, the report notes a sharp drop in the number of cases that move to challan (charge-sheet) submission. This means children and families who risked reporting the crime often see their cases fade into silence because evidence wasn’t properly gathered or the police chose not to pursue the matter.
At the end of this pipeline lies perhaps the harshest truth: convictions are rare. Survivors face hostile courtrooms, cross-examination that shames rather than protects them, and immense pressure — sometimes from their own communities — to withdraw complaints. Prosecutors, working with weak investigations, are often unable to meet the burden of proof.
The system asks children to be brave enough to speak — then fails to stand with them.
Patterns of violence, lives at risk
The nine categories of violence highlighted in the factsheet show a grim range of dangers:
- Child sexual abuse remains one of the most commonly reported forms of violence, yet is still deeply underreported, especially in rural areas where honour, shame and fear of backlash keep families silent.
- Kidnapping cases are high in Punjab and Sindh, with children being targeted for ransom, trafficking, forced labour or coerced marriages.
- Child labour and beggary persist despite legal bans, fuelled by poverty and powerful networks that treat children as commodities rather than human beings.
- Child marriage continues in parts of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, rarely reaching formal courts even when laws are broken.
- Child trafficking, both internal and cross-border, still threatens children who are pulled into labour, sexual exploitation or smuggling routes.
These are not separate issues; they are overlapping crises rooted in inequality, patriarchy, poverty and impunity.
Data as a lifeline — and its absence as a warning
The lack of data from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the poor detail from Balochistan, and the inability of police departments to provide standardised information point to a painful reality: Pakistan still does not have a central, reliable national mechanism to track violence against children.
Without accurate data, policymakers cannot plan. Without trends, governments cannot target resources. Without timelines, civil society cannot hold institutions accountable. The absence of information is itself a form of violence — it erases children from the story of their own suffering.
A call that cannot be ignored
The factsheet concludes with a clear message: Pakistan must treat child protection as a national emergency.
That means investing in specialised child protection units within police, improving RTI and data systems, training investigators and prosecutors, and creating child-friendly courts and procedures. It means coordinating across provinces, building shelters and counselling services, and ensuring that no child who reports violence is left alone to face the consequences.
Most of all, it means recognising that every statistic hides a face, a name, a story that could have been different.
If the country fails to act now, the long-term psychological, social, and economic costs will be immeasurable. But for the children living through this violence today, the cost is already far too high.